<p>I recently got a macbook pro 15 inch and I've decided to make prescreen recordings with it I save money. Could someone give me advice on how to start, equipment, software, etc</p>
<p>Don’t know if any of these address your specific question, but there’s plenty of helpful how to do’s and don’ts within. A couple address general issues, and some informational points that are good background as well.</p>
<p>Hopefully, the more knowledgeable (BassDad, ImperialZeppelin, and others) will chime in with their insights and expertise.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/654703-prescreening-media-formats.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/654703-prescreening-media-formats.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/663784-computers-performance-majors.html?highlight=recording[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/663784-computers-performance-majors.html?highlight=recording</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/661155-advice-making-first-audition-cd.html?highlight=recording[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/661155-advice-making-first-audition-cd.html?highlight=recording</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/577798-has-anyone-here-done-audio-video-production.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/577798-has-anyone-here-done-audio-video-production.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/566474-pre-screening-video-quality.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/566474-pre-screening-video-quality.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/417145-mistakes-music-cd.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/417145-mistakes-music-cd.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/345419-recording-private-lessons.html?highlight=recording[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/345419-recording-private-lessons.html?highlight=recording</a></p>
<p>Can anyone comment on using an outside mic to record with the macbook, and which one.
We do have a snowball mic and I suspect that using it with the macbook improves the sound quality. Are there better mics?
Interested in hearing from people who know more</p>
<p>A few months ago I bought clarinetist D the MXL USB.008 for her Macbook. She loves it.<br>
She just plugs it into garageband via the usb port, and that’s it - no extra software. WWBW had a nice sale which made the mic a very attractive value. </p>
<p>However, this summer she went to a 2-week clarinet program where computers were not allowed, but she needed a portable recording device to record lessons and master-classes. The prof had recommended a Zoom, so we chose the H2 (about $180) vs the H4 (about $250). Both have built-in mics, but the H4 can also take an external mic. They record onto an SD card, which I think she puts into a card-reader (I’m not a techie) for the computer.</p>
<p>I don’t know what type mic (I suspect non-usb) would be needed for the H4, or how the quality/price compares to the MXL usb008. But we’re glad we have the MXL, and don’t think spending any more for a mic for the macbook was necessary at all.</p>
<p>The H2 is an incredible piece of gear (and it can take an external microphone,as can the H4). I can’t say enough about the recording quality of the microphone, it has multiple condensor mikes built in, and can record either surround (back/front) or one direction with a selected angle of recording. It records on mini SD cards and can record in varying forms of MP3 or in full wav format. You can also plug a USB cable into it and download it to a computer. </p>
<p>You can also get a decent USB microphone and plug that into a USB port, but I personally would recommend the H2. For the price of a good quality microphone you are getting the recording capability plus really decent microphone capability (you can use the device as a USB microphone without local recording). Put it this way, I have recorded, ahem, some concerts sureptitiously, and the quality came out better then the ‘official’ recording in some cases. It is great for recording lessons, recording performances and being that the recording can easily be transferred, it can be stored in a variety of ways. </p>
<p>Garage Band can do a decent job, there are also several reasonably priced recording programs you can use to manipulate the recording and then create a CD or whatever. My son uses Nero and likes it a lot, but there are plenty of others.</p>
<p>One other piece of advice from my son, he said that if you get the H2, don’t use it as a microphone with garage band, it doesn’t work right sometimes. He said record it on the H2, then download it into garage band.</p>
<p>i tried recording on garageband with a built in mike and it seemed to work fine… has anybody used this method and passed prescreening/music festival recordings?
btw, its also VERY easy to convert to MP3. </p>
<p>Macbook is such a blessing… I never could do this conveniently without my PC</p>
<p>I’m sure that people have gotten through prescreening rounds using nothing more than the microphone included with the Macbook, but they do so at a competitive disadvantage. That microphone does a decent job, but it is at best a compromise in that it must handle a lot of things fairly well while being optimal for none of them. There are better choices available for recording music that do not cost a huge amount of money. Transceivers (i.e. microphones and speakers) are often the weak link in any audio system, particularly within the constraints imposed by a laptop - small size, plus lots of electrical and mechanical noise sources only inches away if that.</p>
<p>My son uses a MXL USB.007 stereo microphone and a Macbook to record his songs (voice and guitar). The results are markedly better than what he used to get using the built-in microphone. I have seen it on sale at just a bit over $100, so it is a very cost-effective improvement. The ability to create a stereo recording in a single take makes this particular microphone very useful. If you are entrepreneurial, you could even use that setup to record other people’s concerts or prescreening recordings and quickly make back what you paid for it.</p>
<p>The H2/H4 units are also excellent choices and free you up from the laptop completely for just a bit more money.</p>
<p>
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<p>I do sound at my church, and did my son’s prescreening recordings there (a side benefit). We did it with the standard hand held mics the church had (about $100 microphones). The recording was “ok”, but way better than what you would get with built in mics on computers and video recorders.</p>
<p>Recently, the church purchased $500+ mics for music purposes. Those mics are awsome, and I recorded him this weekend singing for a wedding. My wife noticed the dramatic improvement in recording quality.</p>
<p>That said, the people reviewing audition CD’s for college know that high quality recordings are the exception, rather than the rule. Good thing they are listening for technique and such, where sound recording quality can be overlooked.</p>
<p>Most on these forums don’t know this, but I work P/T for a retired recording engineer, who has recorded the Cleveland Orchestra many times. So if any one needs to make a demo and is in NE Ohio, we do hi end work for cheap. The best way to create a recording with a macbook will require additional purchases of equipment. A presonus firewire interface is the start. I need to look at the exact one we purchased, but the cost was low and the results great. You can then if you wish add a tube preamplifier (which can add a lot or warmth to the recording) from the same mfg. That provides the basics for an excellent recording studio that can interface perfectly with garage band, logic etc. Finally you may wish to rent two microphones as one that are high quality are very expensive. The Rode mics are excellent for most purposes, they are similar in range and quality to Neumanns. I’ll get the model numbers when I return to Oh. Of course there is a ton of things that can be done post processing of the recording, but I do not recommend that for audition cd’s.
JD.</p>
<p>Just one note from the prior post, I believe Apple stopped supporting firewire in favor of USB, so anyone with a recent vintage mac is going to have USB only. If a device supports firewire, it is possible to get a USB to firewire interface adapter. However, it is likely that products now will support USB, since at best firewire is dying off.</p>
<p>Not exactly true, musicprnt – the new macbook pros have firewire 800 – and if you search Amazon, there is also a $10 converter for OLD macs where you can convert 800 to 400. (All the other macbooks have kicked firewire.) Just a dad is cct. that presonus firewire gives best preamp for the $ – accdng to by S’s instructor. Right now a $500 investment (see Sweetwater or Musician Friend) will give you all the recording power you need (and more). Logic express is fairly cheap (can get academic verison) and plays nicely with the other kids on the block. But this may be way more power than what’s needed for a pre-screening – and all has a learning curve. So it might be better to take advantage of someone who really loves to do live sound reinforcement : ) If the OP wants to make quality recordings in the future, the investment would be worthwhile, as it would not be wasted and is a good skill to develop.
So, with all the above said, S. had recorded parts of his portfolio, which was a sort of prescreening, in garage band. Other parts through better mics, mixers and digital interface in logic in a home-basement-studio he created; still other parts in a studio on protools, baby grand ribbon mics et al. (Guess which sounded better… Net result was he got in : )
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
K
PS - Not sure I agree that firewire is going the way of the dinosaur, at least in pro deployments. Still faster and better for music editing and film. Just means you end up selecting more pro-oriented interface gear and drives. But willing to be wrong : ) (After all, beta was better than vhs…: )</p>
<p>Just to follow up </p>
<p>Found this place to rent hi end microphones…</p>
<p>[Design</a> FX Audio - Vintage Audio Gear Rentals - Classic Compressors - Tube Microphones, Etc? Your Rental Resource for Seriously Cool Pro Audio Gear - Vintage Audio - Pro Tools HD Systems ? Classic Pro Audio Equipment - Remote Recording Truck - For](<a href=“http://www.dfxaudio.com/rental.html]Design”>Design FX Audio - Vintage Audio Gear Rentals - Classic Compressors - Tube Microphones, Etc… Your Rental Resource for Seriously Cool Pro Audio Gear - Vintage Audio - Pro Tools HD Systems – Classic Pro Audio Equipment - Remote Recording Truck - Format Transfers - Equipment Repair Services - 25 Years Experience!)</p>
<p>The firewire device we bought was a presonus firebox. They can be had new for under $200.00, less for a used one on ebay. The tube preamp is called a presonus tube-pre (about $100.00) So for under $300.00 a great starter system can be built (sans microphones).</p>
<p>The Mac OS recognize the devices automatically, therefore no drivers are required.</p>
<p>The other thing that I like about the firewire interface is using it with sampled instruments. Among others we run Synthogy Ivory software (4 different grand pianos) via an external drive and firewire 800. The results are astounding.<br>
Good luck.</p>
<p>I have read some reviews indicating that the Zoom H2 is built of fragile plastic which breaks easily. Also, does anyone have actual real world experience with downloading the music files to ITunes or other Mac OS software. Is it really compatible with Mac? (I’ve been burned by other devices that tout themselves as both Windows and Mac compatible but which are real kludges when used with the Mac OS) My daughter is currently using an IPod Classic with a microphone attachment which works ok but I know the IPod will eventually self destruct (as they seem to do every 2 or 3 years) and the Zoom H2 seems to be a much more reasonably priced replacement. Any thoughts? My daughter will be using it primarily for recording voice lessons and the accompaniments for the vocal work she does.</p>
<p>Hi Michael,</p>
<p>I know 5 - 10 students, high school through college-age, that have used the Zoom H2 or H4 for 3+ years with no breakages. I agree it does look fragile, but haven’t seen problems with reasonable users.</p>
<p>There is a new (or upgraded) Zoom - the Zoom H4n - promo says “The H4n has a new rubberized shock resistant chassis that improves durability while handling noise.” </p>
<p>My experience with the Zooms is that they are very easy to use and make great recordings - good enough for audition prescreens and festival applications.</p>
<p>I bought the H2 a couple of years ago for my son to use, and it has seen more then its share of abuse, etc, and continues to function perfectly. I can’t give enough praise to this unit (which I think is cheaper now then it was when I bought it), the flexibility and the recording capability amazes me. The built in microphones work wonders, and it can record in a variety of formats, including native and various MP3 formats. You also can do surround recording (front/rear) or front only, and can set the angle of recording as well (90 degrees, 120, so forth). It records on mini sd memory cards, and I suspect you can record a long time, even in native formats, with the 8 and 16 gig ones now available. </p>
<p>My son is critical when it comes to sound quality, knows a ton more then I do, and absolutely loves it, and he has used it with both his macbook and our family pc, with no problems. Also comes in handy for stealth recordings since it is so compact (little bigger then a deck of playing cards) :)</p>
<p>Anyway, based on my experience with it, I can’t recommend it enough</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies!</p>
<p>For those that still need to record or are planning on making recordings next year, I found a great deal this morning, that unfortunately ends today 12/31 which is much like the zoom recorder, but uses many of the newer ipods as the storage device. Alesis is the manufacturer and with the rebate can be had (with the extra pair of mics for 200 or less after the rebate)…again it needs to be purchased today…I grabbed one off of Amazon, to always have some gear with me. Note that a software app needs to purchased via the itunes store as well to make this a total portable package (Looks like one call FiRe for under 10.00 is best)</p>
<p>[Product</a> Rebate - ProTrack Recording Kit](<a href=“http://www.alesis.com/content220399]Product”>http://www.alesis.com/content220399)</p>
<p>Hope this can help someone.JD</p>
<p>I recorded for all my auditions on my Macbook with the snowball, and I got in everywhere I applied. I think it’s fantastic and would recommend it to all.</p>